Experiment: The Ravager Code

Learning

And that thought is what made him realize that maybe this was where Tess belonged after all. She didn't even want to leave, so maybe, like him, her place was always meant to be among the stars, and not in the dirt, whether that be of Terra, another planet, or a gladiator pit on Hala.

He let out a long, silent breath, taking her shoulder carefully, his wide palm engulfing it. But he realized it wasn't as stick-thin as it had been two weeks ago, finally she had started to gain some weight. "Look, accidents might happen, as long as that's the case, ya ain't gotta worry about it. You'll get your control, then we won't have to worry about no mistakes."

Tess nodded slowly, pushing the stray hair that fell out of her long braid out of her eyes. "I'll try to keep it to myself."

Something deep inside him seemed to stretch forward, coming up from down in the dungeons of his heart where he had locked it up, reaching straight to her. Some instinct to comfort her... to pull her into his arm and keep her right there.

He pushed it back best he could, tying it down even as it thrashed to be set free and latch onto her.

"Well," he said, forcing himself to start moving away from her, knowing she would follow anyways. "If you do let it out, at least aim at one of the boys that're a pain in my ass anyways."

She actually smiled, a slow, shy, pretty thing, her eyes sparkling like silver nebulas. "I'll do my best..."

- - - - -

Tess grunted as she pulled a dead battery from the pod in front of her, holding it up and examining it, little wires now hanging from the bottom and sparking at the random.

She set it down on the table next to her and bent over the open front, a wrench in one hand and a flashlight between her teeth as she worked the bolts out to remove the damaged plate and replace the battery.

She was just finishing and attaching the wires of the new one when she heard the other men in the hangar announcing the Captain was about to be down and to have the Warbird prepped, departure protocol beginning to be laid out by Horuz.

Tess wiped her hands on a rag as she crossed the bay, her red jacket tied around her waist. "What's going on?" she asked.

Horuz waved his hand for the last of the men to get moving. "About to be coming out of the jump. Cap likes to have his ship ready to move by the time we do."

"What can I do?"

He raised his brow, but looked off again. He was a grumpy bastard, but at least he didn't treat her like she couldn't handle anything anymore. He'd put her to work almost every time she asked. "Get the Warbird ready for departure, will ya?"

She nodded, heading off, hearing him bark at someone to clear the bay so they could open the doors.

She climbed up the steep metal steps to the m-ship and walked across the rafters to it. Just as she hit the button on the side of the Warbird to get the hatch to come down the huge steel barriers pulled away with a grating shriek of metal, making way for the expanse of space visible below through them, covered by a green forcefield mesh to keep the vacuum out.

Tess only allowed herself a few moments to watch the glittering sheet of the Galaxy, and headed into the Warbird, getting into he cockpit and firing it up like she had been taught, clicking overhead switches and buttons on her way there.

She sat down in the pilot's seat and there was a hum and whir and the engines were coming alive. She looked down through the glass and saw a small band of crewmen making their way into the hangar below, Kraglin stalking by Yondu's side as he seemed to be conversing with Horuz—giving orders no doubt.

Oblo looked up at the cockpit and waved a hand outward, grinning up at her. Tess raised two fingers to her brow and waved them back, then she got out of the pilot's seat (trying to stop her wandering mind from imagining flying this ship into the stars herself and just taking in the vast beauty of space) and started out of the m-ship.

She would have to convince Yondu to let her have flying lessons... Maybe once she could master the other things he had given her, like controlling her powers and fighting with both weapons and without anything. 'You should be able to fight buck-arse nude.' Tullk had told her the other night, Oblo and Kraglin's knowing smirks told her enough to know they had probably all received the same training from each other and their Captain. She would have to learn not to lean on her weapons, is what they meant. But when she was a living one that seemed like an unlikely event to even be without them.

"Ship's all set," Tess said, approaching Yondu and Kraglin, but aiming her words at both them and Horuz.

Yondu nodded anyways, giving Horuz a dismissive look, then ambled away, towards her and his waiting ship, but not before Kraglin jerked his finger and pointed towards a different ship docked nearby, the other Ravagers with them heading towards that one. Tess pivoted and followed. "You finish your last repair?" he asked her as they walked, heading back to the steps up to the mezzanine she had just come from where the Warbird was docked.

"No, sir. I still have the dents in the Path-Maker to sort out, and the new paint on the other c-classes. Plus the blasters that'll need oiling and resembling... There's always more."

He nodded, giving a look that said he knew all too well.

She cleared her throat and asked, "What're you heading down for?"

"Low on fuel, we've got a guy that'll get us a better deal on it, but we still need rations and supplies."

"Oh... when will you be back?"

"If all goes well, by Third Watch, around seven-hundred."

Her stomach roiled at the thought of being here without them that long—the memories of what had almost happened when Kraglin had been onboard but she'd simply been alone in the hangar too new, too fresh—but she swallowed and shoved them down. "Okay..."

Little did she know that Yondu caught the look in her eyes, the way her jaw feathered and she flickered her silver irises around nervously. "Is that too late for you to be out planet-side?"

She darted her gaze up instantly. "What? You mean—?" She hadn't even been off this ship in the months she had been here, although she noticed neither had him and Kraglin much. It had always been the others sent on odd jobs here and there. Finally getting to see her first planet seemed too good to be true.

"Wasn't planning on leavin' you, kid. Figured you're healthy enough to head down."

She just blinked at him a few times, as if making sure she had heard it right, unsure why this was so amazing to her.

"Unless you'd rather stay here..." Yondu said, tongue-in-cheek. "I'm sure Tullk'll need some help..."

"No!" she gasped, catching herself and checking her excitement, her need to burst out telling him she did not want to stay behind. "I want to go." she said more collectedly. "Please."

He grinned softly at her. "Thought so,"

She followed him as he turned and headed for the Warbird, Kraglin and Oblo both giving her looks that said they were glad she'd be coming along.

Tess quickly unbound her jacket from her waist and slid her arms in, straightening it out and treading up the steps then to the m-ship's open ramp beside them. They snickered when she raised her chin, trying to match the confident energy of the others.

"Jut out your lip and square your shoulders." Oblo said.

"Jackass, leave her alone." Kraglin said with a smirk, walking him upside the head.

Tess grinned at him. "Oh, I wouldn't want to put you to shame."

Kraglin ruffled her hair and laughed. "Too late."

Oblo flipped him off, but curled his fingers in and held his fist out towards Tess as they finished heading up the ramp. She bumped her fist against his as he said, "Ravager material, no denying it."